Shrink banding machine for use with thin film

Claim 1

Apparatus for placing a band of thin, shrinkable, plastic film over an article to be banded, comprising in combination; (a) means for feeding a specified length of thin, shrinkable, plastic tubing flattened in a first plane, (b) means for opening the flattened tubing and for refolding it in a second plane perpendicular to the first plane in such manner that the refolded tubing is substantially closed in the middle but open at the ends, (c) means for feeding the specified length of substantially closed refolded tubing into position for being cut, (d) means for cutting the specified length of said refolded into a band, (e) means for conveying articles to be banded in timed sequence with said cut bands to a banding position, and after being banded to a heating tunnel to shrink fit the band tightly around the article, said apparatus being characterized by band opening means capable of entering the open ends of refolded tubing that is substantially closed in the middle as said band is cut from said tubing and opening said band into a polygonal configuration, comprising: two sets of parallel fingers, each set containing at least two fingers and adapted to move in arcuate paths in the plane perpendicular to the axes of the fingers, from a contracted position at the two open ends of the band to an expanded position nearer the center of the band, thereby enabling the open ends of the substantially closed tubing to be slipped over the contracted fingers before the band is cut from the tubing, and enabling the fingers to expand against the inside surface of the band with sufficient force to open the band fully into a polygonal configuration and to hold the band on the expanded fingers.